Sea Shepherd's new boat vs Japanese Whalers - Page 4

NSFW:

Quevola, please save the whales.

http://content.ytmnd.com/content/f/1...0329b3a337.jpg

Funny - you're the perverted, chubby-chaser, not me.

I don't think (although I can't be bothered to check) that all species of whales we hunt are endangered any more. We could have a crack at factory farming whales as we do pigs, but I think people might even have more of a problem with that. I don't think the endangered thing is the main reason so many people have a problem with whale hunting, we have no problems absolutely screwing all kinds of endangered animals - I thought about applying for a job working on the ICUN red list, but decided it would just be too damn depressing spending the whole time working on a list of all the endangered animals were still screwing. If people really cared about endangered animals they wouldn't eat products with palm oil, that is killing off a huge number of endangered species, and it doesn't even taste good. For all I know whale could be delicious. People are against hunting whales because they like them. All this talk makes me want to go and try some whale.

The cultural argument is BS - Japan has already agreed to halt commercial whaling, but they continue to do it under the "scientific research" exception to CISPES, which they are violating every time somebody puts a bite of whalemeat in his or her mouth. If they're serious about their treaty obligations they need to stop the hunt. Considering that there are just a few countries that still hunt whales, and the only others are in Europe (Iceland and Norway, unless they've finally stopped), it's pretty dubious to claim that it is a West vs. East thing.

There are indigenous communities who legitimately need to hunt whales to preserve their customs, but their catch is a minute fraction of what Japan takes.

"Because it's tasty" is a really lame excuse for eating endangered species. While not all whale species are endangered, as pointed out above the difficulty of regulating by-catch is a pretty good reason to ban all whale hunting.

Finally, there is the aesthetic argument - whales are beautiful animals, who are an important part of a critical ecosystem. Consider the amount of money people spend to travel and see whales in the wild - obviously people care about them in a manner that is very different from how most people feel about cows and pigs.

Surely thought this argument holds true for nearly all fishing? As we know all stocks are being over used, both legally and illegally.

Yes indeed. And guess what? Japan is among the worst offenders, refusing to abide by treaties that they've already signed, and lobbying for a global fishing free-for-all.

The overall global catch is plummeting, and fishermen are moving lower and lower on the scale of desirable fish, while demand rises relentlessly (witness the $170K paid for a single tuna earlier this week in Tokyo).

I would kill a talking whale for $170K.

I should say I am not in favour of hunting whales, I am against it. I just think people don't think these things through. If we think eating them is wrong because they are endangered there are other things we should not be eating or doing that effect far more endangered species. If we think eating them is wrong because they are clever, well we probably shouldn't be eating pig. As someone who eats pig and has not yet managed to cut palm oil out of my diet I can't condemn whaling on those grounds, no matter how wrong it seems to me.

How can anyone think of killing this?

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Fair enough. I'd probably kill you for $170K.

Nice little logical FAILacy you've got going there. Simply because there are other actions that should be taken to protect other endangered species is not a reason to stop protecting whales.

Disclaimer: I'm about 99% vegetarian, except for shellfish and a semi-annual order of bacon.

You say "endangered species," I say "limited edition."

I would kill and eat a talking whale (a small one) for $170K .

That's where we part ways...you couldn't pay me enough to eat you.

[quote=imatlas;2822286]Nice little logical FAILacy you've got going there. [quote] Nah, just not going to be a hypocrite. From what you have said you are not, I would be. I do think should not protect whales, it just annoys me how self righteous people get about this stuff, whilst doing things that are just as bad themselves and prioritise protecting things that are prominently visible or cute whilst neglecting what are often bigger issues.